The abortion debate isn't about women's rights, or "keeping laws off my body", or any of that. People are getting side-tracked. What it REALLY comes down to is an individual's definition of when it's "okay" to terminate a life. Some people become so disillusioned, or cloak themselves heavily in denial or propaganda, that they mask what they are actually doing or fighting for the rights to do, which is terminating a human life. Different people who support the practice draw the line at different points of the pregnancy, some even drawing the line right at the point of delivery, but it's all the same--ending a human life. I wish "pro-choice" supporters would just acknowledge this. They use different phrases, like abortion procedure, or pregnancy termination, etc. etc. etc. to divert attention away from the fact that they are terminating a human life. It's a means to help the individuals sweep the reality under a rug. If they would just call it like it is, like: "I support ending a human life up to ____ weeks/months gestation, because at that point the fetus isn't viable (or whatever justification...)." then we could actually get somewhere with the discussion/resolution of the debate. But, until that point, both sides will be side-tracking and endlessly dancing around the issue. When the sides come to common terms, THEN and only then can society weigh the pros and cons of what makes it justifiable, like health or socio-economic concerns (I'm speaking for America here, because that's where I see the debate happening...)

The same issue is at the core of assisted suicide and death penalty debates. At what point can we justify, in our own minds, ending a living human being's life?

I think this is well stated. My english teacher told me once that the biggest issue with making progress is that two sides to every debate just want to insult each other to no end. One side saying, "You all hate women!" and the other side saying, "You all kill babies!" Until we find some middle ground, progress can't be made. I would at least like to make some kind of compromise. At least in that deal, no one's happy.

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"I fear a world where the rich and poor do better than the middle class." - Christian W.